How to Grow Eggplant
Instruction & Advice for Growing Eggplants
in Your Vegetable Garden
| Nutrition | Watering Instructions | Harvesting |
| Climate | Fertilizing Instructions | Storage |
| Soil | Challenges | Tips |
| Planting |
Eggplants are a member of the nightshade family (as are tomoto plants). They grow on small bushes that can reach up to 5 feet tall. The fruit can be long or short, round or egg shaped, dark purple to red to black to creamy white. It is has similar gardening and growing requirements as tomato plants.
Eggplants can grow very successfully with container gardening. 6 plants should produce enough of a harvest for a family to enjoy. For more information, review: container gardening.
Gardening Advice Tip: Eggplant can also be a good companion plant for certain vegetables. For more information, review the companion planting guide.
Nutrition Information: (back to top)
Eggplant provides: Chromium, Potassium, Copper, Manganese, Vitamin B6, K, Thiamin, Folate, Dietary Fiber.
Climate & Growing Conditions: (back to top)
Eggplant is a warm climate vegetable and is very intolerant of frost. Lengthy cool periods and even cool nights will slow down this vegetable's growing spurts. (If you have cool nights in your area during the growing season, consider creating a microclimate for these plants with simple brick/stone walls or ground covering to retain the day's heat).
Place your eggplant crop in rich soil with full sun, with protection from winds.
Eggplant can take up to 4 months to begin bearing fruit. Plant your garden planting dates so that you have time to enjoy your harvest, before the first frost of fall arrives.
How to Prepare the Garden Soil: (back to top)
Garden soil must be well drained and rich in organic matter such as well-rotted manure and compost.
If you're in an area that experiences frosts, mulch this vegetable's plant heavily and protect it with shade cloths.
To give your eggplants their best shot at growing strong and healthily, keep the area around the plant free of weeds. However, weed carefully without digging deeply so that you don't disturb the plant's shallow root system.
How to Plant Eggplant: (back to top)
Eggplants need warm garden soils and warm air temperatures to germinate (68 degrees or more).
You can also plant seeds indoors 8 weeks before transplanting in the garden. This is especially helpful, if you're in an area with a shorter growing season for this crop. Starting your plants early, allows you to essentially extend the growing season for your eggplants. For more information on starting seeds indoors, click here.
Gardening Advice Tip: Remeber, cold soil shocks the seeds and plants, and it also prevents them from growing as quickly.
How to Water: (back to top)
Do not overwater, or you may get root rot. Maintain even moisture and temperature levels in the soil around the roots by mulching around the plant. You can increase water as the plant matures.
How to Fertilize: (back to top)
A few days before planting, dig a dose of complete fertilizer into your eggplant bed.
Also, when you dig your row for planting, dig the row several inches deeper than the seed provider recommends. Add a shallow layer of of complete furtilizer. Cover with garden soil, until the bottom of teh row is at the recommended planting depth. Then plant the seeds. By the time the roots reach the fertilizer, it will have mixed with the soil and will give your plants' roots an extra boost to help growth.
To help your plants grow: consider applying a dose of fertilizer when you start to see the fruit forming.
Gardening Challenges: (back to top)
Aphids, egg fruit caterpillar and spider mites are the main pests.
Crop rotation will lessen incidence of soil-borne wilt diseases. Do not grow peppers or tomatoes in succession with eggplants.
Gardening Advice Tip: Practice good vegetable gardening by rotating your crops within your garden space with each new season. This will prevent many plant diseases.
How to Harvest Eggplant: (back to top)
Pick the fruit at full color potential after about 3 or 4 months, but before the seeds harden and turn brown. The skin should be tight, firm and unwrinkled. Over-ripe fruit is tough and bitter. Cut the hard, woody stems with a sharp tool, to prevent damage to fruit.
Storage: How to freeze Eggplant (back to top)
Cut eggplant into slices, sprinkle with salt and allow to stand for 20 minutes. Drain off excess liquid. Fry eggplant gently in a little butter/olive oil just until barely tender. Cool eggplant, then pack in plastic containers, seal and label. Freeze eggplant for up to 3 months.
Storage: How to Dehydrate / Dry Eggplant (back to top)
Wash and cut into ½” slices. Dry at 100 degrees (F) for about 20 hours or until leathery. To rehydrate, soak in hot water for about 30 minutes and drain. Dried eggplant works well in casseroles.Gardening Advice Tips (back to top)
Have a helpful gardening tip (or even a fun story) to share about your eggplant growing experience? Share it with us at: gardeningtips@howtogardenadvice.com
----------
Note: This page's content, unless specified otherwise on this page, belongs specifically to www.howtogardenadvice.com. Reciprocal links are certainly welcome. However, if you wish to use this content, as written, on your website - please be courteous, respectful and lawful... and ask permission first. Provided you 1) make it clear that the content came from this site, and 2) you leave the links back to my site within the page and 3) your site doesn't contain any profane or derogatory content, I'll likely approve your posting the content. Please email me first for approval at info@howtogardenadvice.com. Thank you.